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Public Service Announcement

My little Meggie (should stop saying that, she’s almost 18) works in a restaurant and is very competent and clever. She kicks arse in the kitchen, and has been working a brunch shift for years. This has been of tremendous use to our family, as on holidays, Meg and Amanda (who works as a server in the same place) can whip up a truly awesome Christmas/Mother’s Day brunch and slap an eggs Florentine in front of you like they were born to do it. Meg’s been working there so long that she thinks that making your own hollandaise sauce is like pouring yourself a bowl of Cheerios. Simple and straighforward. Meg know’s what she’s doing and she doesn’t make many mistakes at all…

Until this weekend, when she made a big one. The restaurant has new pans, and these new ones have metal handles. Meg’s used to the old ones with the plastic handles, so she took a hot pan out of the oven, removed the food, and tossed the pan into a stack. Two minutes later, she went to pick it back up again. Now, with the old pans, the handle would have been cool enough to touch…but with the new ones,

Oops. That’s 1st degree burns to all her fingers, and 2nd degree burns to most of her palm. You can imagine how much that hurts. We didn’t find out that she’d burned herself until hours later, after she had mostly finished her shift (she’s a tough cookie) and we picked her up and took her into Urgent Care so that they could look at it. She’s got those fancy bandages for a while, but there should be no permanent scars or “contractures”. (Not sure what those are, but they sound bad, and I’m glad she won’t have them.) Now for the public service announcement.

When Meg got burned, a bunch of people gave her “first aid” and advice. Meg took some, and not the others. Unfortunately, some of the advice she accepted made things worse, so Meg’s about to be signed up for a St. John Ambulance course so that she knows what first aid to give herself. The bad advice she didn’t take (thank goodness) was to put toothpaste on the burn to dry it out. (I know. Try to control yourself.) The bad advice she did take, was to put butter on the burn. Joe and I were shocked that this old fashioned advice is still out there, but it is, and we couldn’t believe that we were meeting people yesterday who were surprised to learn that butter on a burn is dangerous. For the record, butter on a burn makes the burn worse, seals in heat and promotes infection – plus it has to be cleaned off by medical staff and that’s really, really painful. If you don’t believe me (and I know some of you won’t. When I learned that sugar doesn’t make kids hyper I couldn’t believe it either, and was incandescent with rage that they would suggest such a thing) then google “butter on a burn” and see if you can find anyone (qualified) who thinks it’s a good idea. Then maybe read this page, on what to do for a burn.

For now, the worst part for Meg is that she has to suspend her training for the Friends for Life Bike Rally. Some of you will remember that Ken did this last year to support the People with AIDs Foundation, and in so doing, he inspired Megan and her boyfriend Pato to join him this year. The ride goes from Toronto to Montreal, and begins July 26th. It’s about 600km (372 miles) in six days – so the training is pretty intense. (Meg was scheduled to ride 100k today, but it will need to be put off for a little until she can put weight on her hand and the blisters are healed a little. Probably a week) If you were so inclined, I bet that Meg, Pato and Ken would love your support this year.

(You can click on their names to give to them. Every little bit helps, since all of them need to raise at least $2200 to ride. Also, anybody who raises more than $6000 before June 30th, gets a gold jersey, which… although none of them would say it… they all crave deeply. Don’t tell them I told you.)

That’s Megan and Pato before they went to Prom on Friday. How can you refuse such cute kids anything?

(Actually, if you have 17/18 year olds yourself your resistance might be quite high.) I’d love it if you did these two a great favour and sponsored them, but even if you don’t want to, the I’d really love it if you did everyone a favour and took a minute to read that burn first aid stuff.

(Edited to add: A lot of you are asking, so I’ll answer here. Yes. Megan and Pato are indeed the youngest riders taking part this year, and yes. I’m stupid crazy proud of both of them.)

Tomorrow, we return you your regularly scheduled blanket. (I know. The excitement must be overwhelming.)

246 thoughts on “Public Service Announcement”

Thank heavens her hand will be okay. The whole “butter on a burn” scenario amazes me, as much as the day I caught an employee mixing Comet and Windex together to better scrub the front desk (bleach + ammonia = very bad things). There ought to be a way to educate people on basic dangerous stuff like this, and squash all the myths.

Thanks for spreading the news that butter for a burn is bad, bad, bad! I worked in an emergency room for many years and we always had someone who came in with a bad burn who had put butter on it and had made it so much worse. I think everyone should take a basic first aid course to learn about what to do for burns, cuts, scrapes, etc.

Hey… First!11!!!!1
Hope Megan’s hand heals well. They are a cute couple. And that she has no problems on the bike rally.
I read the burn first aid information to check if I knew what to do and I did. Not bragging, just saying I surprised myself that I remembered it.

Oh, poor Meg! Boy, I’ve never had burns that bad but I know that even a mild burn will hurt like crazy. She sure is a tough lady, and a smart one as well for educating herself on future first aid needs. (Sounds like she took after a certain parent or two–smart, tough and independent.) Heal fast, Megan, and ride safe!

I’m so glad the damage wasn’t worse! Burns are the absolute worst pain, in my opinion, and I’ve had a couple of doozies. I also picked up a pan from the oven without mitts (and I don’t have the excuse that the pan was new or different than it was the day before). Sending healing thoughts…

I am so glad she didn’t get burned worse. I lifted a cookie sheet out of the oven when I was a teen without remembering to grab an oven mitt first. Thankfully I have no scar or anything on my hand so hopefully she won’t either. Quick healing prayers sent her way so she can get back to training.

I’ve done that– it’s part of being a cook. Sorry about the pain; it will go away eventually. Glad she won’t have any permanent disability from this. None of my scars from when I was a cook are even visible, any more.

Wow that is really scary!!! I used to ride with ambulances when I was in college. There is some scary first aid out there I can tell you. We had one guy put dirt into his cuts because it would help stop the bleeding. He almost lost his leg from the infection.

One teeny piece of additional advice (I became a nurse after years as a cook, so you can believe me)– keep a bandage on the burn until it’s completely healed, even after the pain goes away. As it’s healing, it might itch a little. If she scratches the itch, she’ll break the damaged skin. This hurts worse than the original burn, and will lead to a worse scar. I think you can guess how I know this.

Wooooooah, people are still saying that putting butter on burns is a good idea? The best way I’ve heard to remember that this is a BAD idea was from my health teacher freshman year of high school. How do you cook things? Usually with butter. Want to cook your burned hand? … put butter on it.
Ouch. I’m glad she’s going to be okay!

Wow. Yesteday my husband and I were cooking and a similar thing happened to him. He left the room, didn’t realize I’d pulled the pan out of the oven and onto the stove, and he gripped the handle. Luckily, he realized right away what had happened. We ran his hand under cold water and later on put some aloe on it. Today, he only has a little pink mark to show what happened. Hope Meg heals quickly!

Glad to hear Meg will be ok. That is a scary and painful thing to have happen. When my brother was about her age he worked in the kitchen for a Holiday Inn. Somehow a pan of hot oil was spilled on his foot. He did whatever he did to make it feel better but finished his shift and then did not even mention it when he got home. My mother freaked. Off they went to get it checked out at the emergency room. He ended up with no lasting damage but burns are nothing to ignore. Hope recovery is fast.

My husband is a chef and his first rule of the kitchen is “hot metal looks just like cold metal, but feels extremely different.” He has some other ones about the chef always being right, but those I ignore. 🙂
Hope Meg feels better soon.

Oh wow! Thanks for posting that link! I would have thought to put ice on it, but looks like water’s the way to go!
I used to work at a restaurant, but thankfully only as a server and only had to deal with burning myself when taking bread out of the oven (something I didn’t do often).
I hope Meg’s hands heal nicely and quickly!

Oof. My kid burned himself on a mug of tea that he knocked over. 1st and 2nd burns from armpit to fingers. Did the doctor give her Silvadine cream? It’s an antibiotic burn cream that is awesome.
Hope she feels better soon.

Poor kid! I used to work at a restaurant and got burned and cut ALL the time. I read the link to the burn treatment, and I do disagree with one thing. If you get burned, you don’t want to put your hand under cold water for anything other than rinsing the burn off for a few seconds. The newly exposed flesh will become acclimated to the cold water so that when it’s not submerged, your skin thinks that room temperature is really hot. (Skin might think, you think?) Best thing to do is rinse the burn, take some Tylenol, and wrap it in gauze.
I never did put butter on a burn, but I’ve heard that burned skin and peanut butter is equally delicious. 🙂

Ouch ouch ouch! I have done the same thing. You know what does work? Egg whites. It cools the burn off like nobody’s business. I learned that from my sister who works in a bakery. If there’s no ice water around, a lightly beaten egg white will do the trick and it doesn’t stick. I wasn’t going to try it but after stepping on a hot coal (grilling barefoot-bad idea) and hobbling around with an ice pack for an hour that did nothing I caved to my sister and tried her remedy. Glad I did.

Argh. Basic first aid is something they shouldn’t release people into the wild without having a good grasp of. Lately I’ve heard that even aloe isn’t a good thing to put on a burn…
I hope Meg recovers quickly. She seems to be taking the whole situation pretty well, if the photo (and not going to urgent care until after her shift!) is any indication.

Oh, that looks painful! I was a waitress at a country club for a number of years in high school and I had boiling water from a buffet chafing dish pour over my hand and wrist. I immediately put the hand under the coldest water I could find, but since the hand was bare and the wrist wasn’t, the pain hit my palm first and my wrist later. Since I didn’t get cold water onto my wrist, i.e. onto the wrist of my long sleeved shirt that was soaked with boiling water, I had burns that scarred on my wrist from the shirt sticking to my skin. The scars have mostly faded, but it’s been 10+ years since and I never forgot to get burns under cold water.
Good luck with the bike ride, Meg!

Contractures ARE nasty — my dad had them on his leg from burns he got in the 1920’s early 1930’s. DO follow the advice on keeping the bandage ON the burn until it heals — it will prevent scaring (and I know about that the same way the first person who mentioned it knows — got a nasty infection and now have a creepy scar on my wrist).

I spilled really hot coffee on me and got a mild burn at work a few weeks back. Someone actually told me to put WD-40 on it!!!! I politely declined and ran cold water over it every 10 minutes or so until the burning stopped.

I just had a conversation with someone last week about not putting butter on burns. I can’t even remember where I learned you shouldn’t do that – probably a first aid class around junior high, which was a long time ago. I hope she heals quickly and well!

Dear Meg–I burned the bejeebers out of my left hand when I was pregnant with my second kid–second and third degree burns all over the back and fingers, cooking my wedding ring to my hand. The good news–the pain stopped after just a couple days (and pain pills and pregnancy don’t really mix, so I was VERY happy when it stopped hurting). The other good news–I went to a plastic surgeon just for a consult and he gooped me up perfectly with Silvadene–no surgery, no contractures, no ugly. When all the brown alligator skin started to come off, believe it or not, he had me put Crisco (remember, this is a top-notch plastic surgeon!) on the tender new pink skin. Go figure, but the combination worked great. The only lingering effect was my hand was very sun-sensitive for well over a year. Take care and hang in there–I’ll be praying for your poor paw, but I promise you’ll be fine 🙂

My 11 year old son was sitting here reading this with me, and asked what a Wool-pig was. I explained about it sort of being a hog or slightly greedy about wool. He said, “Oh, I thought maybe it was a mix between a pig and a sheep.” I think perhaps he’s disappointed. My definition was way boring.
Sorry about the burn, Meg. That sucks big time.

Ouch! I’m so glad she’s taking a first aid class soon. It’s such an important skill to have. I burn myself all too often and my last one ended up with me in the emergency room with my wedding band being cut off. (they tried to cut it off, the blade couldn’t get through the ring so we had to go to the jeweler to have it finished off)

So glad she’s ok!! Another really awful piece of advice is to run it under cold water, it does cool the top of the skin but drives heat in further. My cousin had fresh from the fryer oil dumped all over her ankle & foot, thankfully a retired nurse was there and stopped them from putting her leg in ice. Luke warm water is the best as it helps even things out a bit. The doctors said that nurse is the only reason she managed to get away with mostly 3rd and a few 4th degree burns. They said the ice would have driven the heat in so far that it would have basically cooked the muscles away (ick!)

You’ll have to excuse me while I sit down for a bit. Whew. I can’t believe she smiled after that. And worked the rest of her shift! Tell me how you raise kids like that. I really want to know.
I hope she heals well and is back on her bike. I am so impressed by your daughter.

So glad the burns weren’t worse (sorry that they happened at all.) Seems crazy for a restaurant (where they’d always be rushing to get things finished, esp at weekend brunch) to have pans with metal handles. They should just equip all of them with felted handle covers. I’d be happy to knit & felt up a few if they’d accept them.

Glad the burn wasn’t too bad also glad my memory of 35 year old first aid course is still valid. Cool/cold running water then get thee to a Dr. Gauze if you have it especially if skin if broken. Thankfully not the case here.
On to prom and bike ride. She and her date look lovely. Missing some training will not make the ride impossible. Maybe she could use a recumbent trainer for the next week or so (providing some local friend has one. Iowa is a bit far.) Actually any trainer as long as she rides “no hands” would help keep her tush in shape and leg muscles trained. Many years of RAGBRAI experience speaking here. Now to head over to donation site.

Many years ago when I was being used for forced child labour by my parent, I burned myself on the industrial pizza oven. I was given the “butter” advice but didn’t take it. From what I understand butter makes it feel better because it damages the nerve endings,hence no more pain. I hope Meg feels better and I hope the restaurant comes up with a solution. Handle cozies sound like a good idea.

It amazes me that people still give out this kind of antiquated and dangerous first-aid “advice.” Applying grease to a sunburn or other kind of burn is one that I still hear all the time. I remember when I worked at a chain drug store when I was in high school, and one my co-workers advised another that petroleum jelly was an excellent contraceptive as “a greased egg won’t hatch.” I swear I’m not making this stuff up. It shouldn’t surprise you to know that she (the dispenser of said advice) wound up pregnant soon thereafter.

My hip hurt so bad the other day that i could not sleep. Every position I tried to lay in made it worse. Finally I got out of bed in the early morning and got out a heating pad.I turned on med high to help the warmth get their faster and promptly fell asleep on it. I awoke to First degree burns on my arse. I know, the instructions with it say all kinds of things about not laying on it to long, etc…but a person in pain will do what it takes to stop the pain.
Thanks for the First Aid advice, the links are full of good information.

I cannot believe the old Butter On Burns thing is still going. *freaks slightly* Just good old cold water has always worked on me, then once it’s healing nicely a very light ointment I have to keep the skin from peeling off too soon. I did something similar at about 6 years old – grabbed the wrong end of the poker. Duh. Hand under the tap, then very carefully wrapped in gauze, and I slept that night clutching a china cup to take the heat out of it 🙂 Couldn’t write for a week, but otherwise fine, and undamaged. I’m gonna go read your first aid page now!

Oh, ouch. Poor Meg. What a tough cookie tho to work out her shift before seeing the doc. Tell her next time not to be so tough. I’m hoping that everything heals itself without major problems and scarring. Hugs for everyone.

That’s terrible about Meg’s hands! What I find amazing is how many people don’t believe you when you tell them the only thing to put on a burn is the bandage. Apparently my Red Cross First Aid certification didn’t impress them, and they still insisted you should put cocoa butter and/or Neosporin on burns “to help them heal.”

Holy Cow! I hope that heals up quickly. I had a very bad burn on my stomach a few years ago (boiling water–not fun) and a friend recommended that, once the burn started to heal, I put lavender oil on it. I checked with my doctor who said he didn’t know if it would help but it definitely couldn’t hurt. It was a miracle. I had been told at the hospital that I would need plastic surgery and I don’t have a mark on me.
And it smells really good.

Megan get wonderfully healed SOON!
We are so relieved that you will recover with no scarring. Blessings and healing to you.
Mumma Steph… many blessings to you for using this aweful accident as a teachable moment, for all the rest of us! I too cannot believe that butter BS is still out there!

As someone who burns herself on an alarmingly regular basis (occupational hazard) I have heard every single idiotic “remedy” for a burn. 1st degree burns get cool water and The Healing Desert skin gel (it really speeds up the healing to like a day or two) 2nd degree burns get cool water, gauze and a trip to the medic.
I love the fact that Meg wore a polka dot dress to prom. So much so that I donated a penny for every polka dot.

How cute is your kid!?! OMG.
Thanks for the link. I think I knew about the cold water (at least, that’s what I did instinctively when my 18-month old touched a hot pan).
In his first book, Anthony Boudrain talked about the burned and blistered palms of the old-guard kitchen staff. Is that where she wants to head??

My daughter has not burned herself yet, but when I dropped half a pan of boiling water on my foot I called the pediatrician’s nurses and they said cold water, for as long as you need it. It helped a lot, although it was a bit inconvenient having my foot hurt like crazy unless I was sitting with it in a bowl.

Meg is one tough cookie, finishing her shift with a burned hand. Methinks she deserves a nice plate of eggs florentine or the like whipped up for her.
Or maybe a pretty fingerless mitt to cover the bandages on her palm? I’m sure it would be o.k. to break your blanket-only rule just this once…

Hey,
Don’t have much extra cash floating around this very instant, but I’d love to invite Meg and beau to dinner/lunch/brunch/whatever if they care to. Just drop me an email!
Good luck. They’re doing a wonderful thing!
G

Oy!
My baby brother had 2nd/3rd degree burns over 70% of his body. He’s only alive because he was able to be airlifted to Shriner’s burn hospital in Salt Lake. This was almost 25 years ago, but it’s still really vivid.
My best friend has 2nd/3rd degree burns on both her hands from a grease fire. (And for the “butter on a burn” people: if grease can burn, why would putting a solidified grease on a burn do any good?) She has limited RoM and injury induced arthritis — you’ll be happy to know she can knit just fine, though!
Anyhow, all this to say that yes: educate yourselves on what to do about burns. They’re serious injuries that destroy the first defense against infection, the skin. Please learn what to do to avoid making them worse than they will already be.
Sorry. I should have left my soapbox elsewhere. But 2 very-dear-to-me people deal with pain and scars still, decades later. I’d rather fewer people each day dealt with those things.

First, thank heavens she’s okay. And she looked fantastic for prom. And way to go on the biking!
Second, I cannot belive that her place of employment didn’t have some kind of WHIMIS or first aid info – AND that they let her finish her shift! Things could have gone so much more poorly! Is Worker’s Comp involved yet? Because maybe they should be – at least for education for the management. (Not trying to cause trouble, but you do still have another daughter working there. And the accident seems totally avoidable – or at least, the harm could have been MUCH reduced.)
I think the butter thing started because in the way back, butter would’ve been in the ice-box or cold-house, and cold, whereas water might be warm, depending how long ago you pumped it. Actually, now I’m imagining some poor farmwife trying to run the pump onehanded, while she keeps her burned self under the water, too. Maybe at one point, in one situation, it made sense. Of course, so did the earth being flat. We know better now.

That poor baby! I argued with my crock pot Christmas night and still have the scars on my leg and hand to prove it. Silvadene creme has helped it heal immensely, but there were several weeks of extreme pain and not being able to type (which I do for a living).
I have kids that age: yes Meg and her BF are cute as can be, but then I love teens. They are so fun, full of life, promise and hope. These kinds of kids truly let us know the world is going to be a better place.

I can imagine that people in general might not have heard yet that butter is the exact wrong thing to do for a burn–but people who work in a restaurant? where burns must be somewhat common occurrences? How could they not know?
So sorry for your daughter, though she looks like she’s feeling pretty strong. Also sorry for you, because vicarious pain also hurts.

Hi Yarn Harlot 🙂
Me being and edumacated pro and all at the food thingy, I have to admit, that a VERY similar burn to Ms. Meg’s happened to me when I was (counts) 16-ish… the first breakfast guy in the kitchen turned the fryer on to 500F and I didn’t check it at all utill lunch service when my 2nd batch of chicken tenders came out raw in the center AGAIN. So I checked the temp, turned it down, tossed the tenders in the oven to finish cooking, pulled ’em out with a towel, plated them AND THEN GRABBED THE PAN WITHOUT THE TOWEL. Yep hand seized up and I had a beautiful burn all across my fingers and palm. Painful? yes. But 6 years later I’m (thankfully) scar free from that incident. Truth be told, it never really scarred. And I’m actually rather surprised she didn’t have to take some sort of first-aid/foodsafety course prior to taking the job. If she has any notion of continuing in the food-service industry through post-secondary education, or beyond, very informative courses are out there that provide all kinds of info on not only first-aid, but also all kinds of food-borne illness and food-saftey. Very, very handy stuff.
Awesome prom pics to Meg, and I hope she had a blast. And KEEP ON KNITTING!!! I’m looking forward to seeing how the blanket comes out, since I’ve toyed with casting that one on several times. Plus, if I multiply how long it takes you, by 3, we’ll say? That’s about how long it woudl take me, minimum :P.
-Glen

i suggest ibuprofen for the pain, rather than tylenol. tylenol is not an anti-inflammatory.
years ago, my fingertips were trapped in a garage door for about 10 minutes, squashing them flat. when i finally freed myself, i put my hand in icewater and called the hmo triage nurse to ask what next. she said to take ibuprofen because it was the best over-the-counter anti-inflammatory.
not to be a wet blanket, but i’m not sure meg should do the ride. my son is a burn survivor, and even 23 years later, the burned areas’ skin is fragile and some nerves haven’t regenerated. there will be other years, but not other hands. please make sure she follows doctor’s orders, even if the orders are “not this year!”
and i don’t know whether canadian worker’s comp is much like u.s., but any at-work injury needs to be reported right away.
stepping off my soapbox and wishing meg quick healing.

I too am amazed at how many still say to put butter on a burn. (Cool water on a burn not butter!)
And burn gel is great to have around the house for the pain.
You raised some great kids. I know that’s not news, but I had to say it.

OWWWW. Burns are painful. I once sloshed boiling water on my leg and burnt an area about three by two inches, one huge nasty blister.
After it heals some (is not an open wound anymore) she might try putting vitamin E oil on it. I did that on my leg and it took a while but no scar.

Aaahhhh….butter on a burn. That’s still goes on here in the US also. When I was a child (I’m 31 now), I backed into the muffler on my Dad’s motorcycle. Grandma was the only female around and suggested we put butter on it, which they did. My mom was horrified when she found out later. Still have a scar.

While working in the kitchen in college I got a nasty burn on my hand (blister about 3 cm in diameter) removing a hot pan from an oven. Grant said I should lance it, so I did. Wrong, of course. It didn’t get infected, but it took well over a month to heal; I was extremely lucky as I had no scarring or contracture (which I believe is a joint that won’t straighten out all the way) or loss of range of motion, just permanent skin puckers when I stretch my hand way out. A very small price to pay. Best of healing to Meg; I’ve found that aloe smeared directly from the broken leaf of the plant onto the burn stops a lot of the pain (and in the case of hand burns also cuts way down on the nail-biting, as it tastes dreadful).
Best of luck also to cycling enterprise! I’d be proud of them too.

I must concur with Amanda at June 22, 2009 1:59 PM; cold is bad for a burn and can cause further damage. Lukewarm is better because it’s not such an extreme. One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is lavender oil. It is great for burns, as well as many other ailments, and is natural.

Meg, you looked gorgeous for prom and (hello!)Pato is a cutie! It looks like you two had a good time.
I love the bandage photo with your GIGANTIC hand. Ha! Sometimes it’s all about perspective. 🙂 Ooch! Heal quick!
:)K

Ouch!
I’m glad she’s been treated professionally – and has hopefully reported it as a workplace accident for Worker’s Comp and Workplace Safety.
Cold water slows the burn damage, but getting to Emerg quickly controls the extent of the damage. Meg may be a stoic, but should have reported the accident immediately.
I hope she heals quickly, and like others have said, leaves the bandages on for the prescribed amount of time to reduce the possibility of infection or scarring. Good luck on the ride, once she’s healed. A good anti-vibration (with gel filled pads) glove may help protect the fragile new skin on her palm and fingers.
Butter on a burn? That’s crazy nonsense. Water, lots of it, and nothing else – and medical care if it’s worse than 1st degree.

I’m hoping Megan’s hand is healing nicely without too much pain. 🙂 Poor hand! I’m sure she’ll bounce back into training for the bike hike. She’s young you know. 🙂
Meg sounds like a wonderful girl, the kind I’d like to know. Good luck with the hand and with the training, Meg! (and don’t get on your mum’s case toooo much about the Meggie thing…it is a mother thing, and someday you’ll find it charming! But only if she doesn’t go through your sisters’ names, your dad’s, her mothers and the cat’s first! That happens too.)

Yikes! So glad she’ll be ok! When I was about 8, and being supervised by my older sister (read: not at all supervised), I was playing with fire and seriously burned my thumb. I didn’t tell her and since I was 8 and didn’t know what I was doing, I put gasoline on it. When my mom got home she had to wash it off the enormous blister that had formed. Not fun. But at least I learned early on in my life what NOT to do for a burn.
Also, I did a 3 day breast cancer walk (60 miles) and so I have 1st hand knowledge and therefore appreciation for people doing these super long physical activity fundraisers. Good for her! I’m off to donate now!

Poor Meg! Give her hugs, even if she doesn’t want them. Cool/cold water is always the first thing I shove any burns (mine or someone else’s) in. Sometimes that works so well that you forget you’ve burned yourself until you whack it on something later.

Can I second the suggestion of using lavender oil ,BUT, do make sure it is absolutely pure, not one that’s got anything mixed with it. I used it on some very very severe sunburn my (very very careless) husband got and was amazed at the speedy and wonderful healing.
Helen

Poor baby! Hope she feels better soon. She is a beautiful girl, and the boy is cute too. They look so happy! And young….
I cannot believe that people still give out that butter advice. That is APPALLING.

Oh my gosh, that poor girl! Yet, look at that smile in the face of adversity…something tells me this is one tough cookie. I made sure to save the information on burns, now here’s hoping I’ll never have to use it.
I have a story for you. A little over a year ago, you spoke at the Philadelphia Book Festival. I really enjoyed your speech about how a repetitive action such as knitting helps people handle highly stressful situations. It was fascinating! I still can’t believe you took the time to sign all of my books, not just one of them. All that sock knitting must have given you hands of steel! It was such fun; I hope you enjoyed it half as much as we enjoyed having you.
The festival was at the Philadelphia Free Library, and while I was there, I thought, “why not get a library card?” and since I had a shiny new card, I thought, “why not check out a book?”
I’ll tell you why not. I don’t return books on time, ever. I have some kind of mental block. My freshman year of college, I worked in one of the campus libraries. I racked up several hundred dollars in fines that year. Netflix was created for people like me, people who like to keep a movie out for 4 months at a time. Every day I would look at that book and think, “nope, no time to return it today. I’ll get around to it.”
I finally got around to returning it, two days shy of one year late! I’m so excited! My late fee was only $15.00, which sure beats university late fees.
I’ve decided it’s just easier to buy books. As an author, wouldn’t you agree?

Yikes! Sorry about the burn! I once had 2nd degree sunburn (yep! excessive alcohol and the beach to not go together). I will definitely keep her in my thoughts for a speedy recovery.
I have also gone to the site to sponsor everyone, but I could not locate Pato and is Ken last name Allen or McNeilly? I am guessing the later since there was a knitting reference in the sponsors. Please let us know so we may donate.
Thanks

oh no!! poor meg! i did this same thing on saturday. thankfully i didn’t burn myself nearly as badly as she did – but still. i hold my red hand up with her in solidarity. burned-my-hand-on-a-pan chicks unite!
also they are kaYOOT!!!!

I have a faint shadow on my arm that is the remains of a 400 degree sheet metal burn. I gave it regular dousings with lavender oil, aloe, and triple antibiotic ointment; it never even blistered. My sympathies and a toast to the tough cookie!

Ouch! I can’t believe that the butter myth is still going around! I burn myself on a regular basis, mostly because none of the potholders I use ever seem quite big enough. Nothing as bad as 1st and 2nd degree burns. Hopefully she’ll feel much better soon and be able to continue with training!

she looks really cheerful – they must have some quality painkillers over there.
my 14 year old son did that same thing to his hand last summer, only he burned his on a go-kart muffler. i didn’t realize how badly he had burned himself right away, so i sent him inside the go-kart place to run some cold water over it. while he was in there, some “helpful” teenagers told him to run HOT water over it. i have never seen such pain on the face of anyone before, and i hope to never again.
we learned all sorts of interesting things from the burn unit, and most surprising was that they cut the blisters off after a couple of days, to promote healing. his hand healed fine, and really quickly.
hang in there, meg 🙂
meredith

Ouch! Poor Meg…and her poor parents, who I know are feeling every bit of that pain along with her…goes with the territory of parenting. Thank goodness she’ll bear no long-lasting ill effects. (You looked gorgeous for prom, Sweetie.)
I’ve known a number of chefs whose kitchens always contain a huge bowl of ice water at the ready just for this kind of thing. Plunge that hand into cold water to stop the burning and bring some immediate relief. Butter belongs on toast.

cool the burn, cover the burn. never put any ointment on a severe burn
I have taken/taught first aid for 20 years, and yes, even my HUSBAND has argued with my information until he looked it up.
The toothpaste suggestion sounds like the old, ‘put a baking soda paste on it’
cool and cover. period.
hope she heals up right quick.
Naomi

Contracture is definitely bad, so not having it is good. I hope her hand feels better as quickly as possible — a burned hand hurts something awful. Thanks for the link to the burn site, and to the rally; I can see why you’re so proud of them both!

I feel terrible for your daughter! When I was in high school I worked at a McDonald’s with my best friend. I was working in the in the grill area, and had brought something to the back sink to be cleaned. Apparently, when I was away, a co-worker decided to mop the floor near the grill – which is a huge flat surface that can get to be 500 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s pretty darn hot! There was no “wet floor” sign, so I came running around the corner to deal with the grill that was beeping at me and totally slipped like in a cartoon – except it wasn’t funny! I reached out to steady myself and put my left hand flat on the hot grill. The worst pain I ever felt! And yes, someone told me to put butter on it – luckily I knew better and shoved my hand in a cup of ice water. 2nd degree burns on my palm and fingers.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, the test for my driver’s license was the next day – I unfortunately failed for not properly holding the steering wheel with my bandaged hand. 🙂 Something that did work after my had healed up a bit was the aloe gel with lidocaine that you can get for sunburns. It was the only thing that numbed the pain.
Ah well – I recovered (and got my license!). I hope your daughter is doing ok and has a speedy recovery! I know for a fact how un-fun it can be.

I am so happy that my mother was a registered nurse while I was growing up. Always knew to submerge a burn in cool water, then cover it lightly with gauze.
My worst burns were from the sun, as I am very fair. One day I was outside the whole day, with a ponytail and baseball cap. I put sunscreen everywhere often – except the tops of my ears. I got one 3/4″ long blister and one 1 1/2″ long blister along the tops of my ears. You can bet that I’m extra careful now!
The best non-obvious medical advice I ever got was from my high school chemistry teacher. He told us to put a baking soda paste on bee or wasp stings to draw out and neutralize the acid. Baking soda is a strong base, which is often used to clean up acid spills in chemistry class.
Meg’s prom photos are lovely!

hi! I spent 6 years actually working for an ambulance company, and still am certified to do so. I came home once from some event where I had left my kids in the care of my sister-in-law to hear she had put butter on a (extremely minor, thank heavens) burn that one of my kids had acquired. I think she was offended at how upset I got – but like you, I couldn’t believe someone still thought that was a good idea.
That was a few years ago. Just about 4 weeks ago I came home from somewhere to find my 10 year old daughter with one finger in the stream of water from the faucet since she had burned her finger (making something with potatoes and cheese). My 13 year old son was stirring something on the stove – he said “We’re making marshmallows”. This means he had a pot of boiling sugar syrup on the stove. I was glad to know that if a burn had happened from that, that at least one of them would know what to do.

I’m glad to hear Meg is not too badly burned. I burned my hand many years ago – had a bit of contracture and followed doctor’s orders and watched for infection. No scars and no issues now.
they are a lovely couple and I’ll be back to see what I can do to help them in their fundraising.

Not sure this trick is practical in a restaurant kitchen, but at home what I do when I take a metal-handled pan out of the oven is leave the hot pad or oven mitt draped over the handle when the pan is sitting on the stove, as a visual reminder.
Glad Meg is going to be OK!

Oh, poor Megan! I burned my left hand on a stove burner once, and oh man did that hurt! And thank you thank you thank you for spreading the word about butter on burns! It’s very very bad. Cold water immediately is much better, and burn salve after the burn is cool. Sympathies to Megan.

I’m so glad to hear it wasn’t much worse. 1st degree hurts, but will heal quickly. I once had first and second degree burns on my … er… rear from the bottom of my back to my knees. It wasn’t pleasant, even though I got to be out of school for 12 weeks.
And I agree with your daughter about sauces 🙂 I made hollandaise for eggs benedict with asparagus not that long ago, and frequently make bechamel (for macaroni and cheese, which my kids don’t know also comes in a familiar blue box 🙂

Oh I am hurting for her. I had burns on my leg when I was a little kid and have a huge scar to prove it. I DO NOT like burns. Big lump in my throat for her pain. She is such a trooper for finishing her shift!
And yes those two are tooo cute. Such beautiful daughters you have, and brave, and smart, and working hard, and training hard…oh gosh, lump in my throat is back.

Good grief. Are you reading this? Talk about contradictory advice — a whole new generation of faux information (I happen to BE an old wife.) Okay, so I’m firm on cool water and am going out to buy a bouquet of tubes of Silvadene creme for everyone I know. But the others? Be very afraid.
(Do only U.S. citizens read Johnny Tremaine? Serious case of contracture.)

PS: I received my preordered copy of Amy King’s “Spin Control” today. It’s great! Exactly what I needed, when I needed it. Even the fact that I accidentally ordered two copies is good, as I can swap one on Ravelry for fiber. Have you seen it?

so glad that her burn wasn’t worse! As someone who has been in the food biz for too many years, I was shocked that someone in a professional food setting told her to put butter on it. Cold running water is the way to go.

Wow! I’m glad to see she’s in such good spirits after all that. I am First Aid qualified, and I feel everyone over the age of 12 should be! It should be taught in Health class and be a pre-req for graduation! There, I said my little rant for the day. And good luck to Meg ad Pato on their ride, they’ve got my support!

Soy Sauce – yep, soy sauce. Heard it on People’s Pharmacy. First COOL, not cold, water, then pour soy sauce on it. The army puts little packets of it in their emergency first aid packs. I’ve also heard of the lavendar oil to help with the healing, but I would wait until the next day, or at least until it’s not stinging.
And yes, prom pic’s were too cute!!!

Poor Meg! 🙁 Sorry to hear about the burns and the bad advice. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery!
Kudos to Meg and Pato for taking part in the bike rally, too–and for being the youngest involved. That’s awesome!
P.S. The prom pictures are too, too cute. Love them.

OUCH! been there done that hon!
although I tried to steam my hand like lobster and guess what? we steam very well (owies)
anyway i couldnt believe it either butter? really?
no thank you!
i hope she gets better soon…!

See, it may just be that I was raised by a nurse and therefore had a pretty good handle on first aid from an early age, but it never would’ve occured to me to put butter on a burn. Actually, the first thing that always occurs to me is to put the burn under cool running water.
I remember reading The Silver Chair as a child and being horrified at the passage describing treating Puddleglum’s burned foot with a dressing laced with salad oil.
Maybe Marshwiggles are a whole heck of a lot better at resisting infection than we humans are because gaaaaaaaah…

Sending Meg healing prayers, especially since this is also interfering with her doing a good work. I’ve had a couple of those burn incidents myself working in a commercial kitchen. Meg has now been christened with some of those war wounds that make good after shift chat. Meanwhile, I hope she will be getting up to speed on first-aid, the speed of care can make a huge difference in the speed of recovery (whether it’s her or a mate).

So glad to see that you turned what must have been unpleasant experience for the family into a way to educate your readers about burn therapy! Poor Meg.
I was a little worried to see some of the things suggested in the comments, though. Burn therapy means nothing goes on it but water until the burned area is cool to touch – and stays cool! Oils, egg whites – none of those conduct heat away from the burn and thus should be avoided. After seeing the doc and having the inital injury taken care of, then you can start to think about putting other things on it. (And if you come to the burn center, you can ask folks like me about wound care.)
Best of luck with that bike ride. 🙂

The best advice I ever had for a burn was actually from an Australian doctor (but we were both working at Mayo Clinic at the time!):
Put your hand/burnt spot in cool water until it really and truly stops hurting. (No faking. No pretending you’re done because you’d rather be knitting.) For a bad burn, it may take as long as an hour. BUT, if you do it, it doesn’t really hurt as much the next day. (And, for the record, it was a _bad_ burn.)
Go, Megan, Go!

I am so surprised that no one working in a kitchen knew to use ice water on burns! I would think that would be one of the first things learned by folks in such a profession. Heck, they’ve shown chefs getting burned like this on Top Chef and Hell’s Kitchen and any number of cooking shows and the first thing is always cold water. Oh well!
Glad she’s okay. Hope it heals quickly!

I can tell you what to do – 1. Cold water running over the burn continuously 2. Ice on the burn!! 3. If severe enough Urgent Care or Emergency Room. (I caught fire when I was 8 and my brother threw mud on me and my 3rd degree burn on my leg and that wasn’t fun being cleaned. So I learned some real good facts.

Seriously? I’m 48 and I’ve known for 4 decades not to put butter on a burn. (Of course, my father was a firefighter – I SHOULD know.)
Bless your kiddo’s hearts! My 17 year old could use a goal or two this summer.

And this is the beauty of the Canadian healthcare system. A cook,( who wouldn’t have insurance in the US), burns her hand, her parents (who are both artists, thus not having health insurance in the US), pick her up, take her to urgent care where- here’s the radical part- she gets treated! Wow- now she can avoid extra lost days of work, infection, serious problems, and her parents didn’t have to go into debt. Wow. I hope we have that here in the US some day.
Thanks for the link to Mayo- they have a great website.

Arrrgh — the macho mindset of professional kitchens continues to amaze and enrage me. No trained first aid responder? not one voice saying “I’ll cover your shift, get to the hospital arready!”? and no one bright enough to buy pans with CoolHandles (insert trademark sign here) or one of the many excellent equivalents?? Sheesh.
Okay, I’m donating. But I gotta ask: her boyfriend (your potential son-in-law, possible) is really called “Duck”?!

You know, my business partner and friend is one of the founders of the bike rally. And we keep commenting on the life of its own that has emerged from that original idea, and what an amazing community has been created. And I am chortling here to see Megan and Pato as part of that crowd, and the huge shoutout in a KNITTING BLOG that we would never, ever, ever have anticipated 11 years ago when the idea was hatched.
So sorry about the burn, and so impressed with the plans. Go M&P!
(I’m afraid I’ve already made my contributions for the year, though)

Man, you have beautiful kids!
I put my hand into a fry vat back in my McDonald’s days. I thought the tongs I was using to retrieve something from the bottom were longer than they were. I’d rather have a baby than a burn. (Of course the burn heals faster than you manage to get rid of the baby. Different forms of suffering, right?) I am shocked to hear that people still think butter on burns is a good idea.

School nurse here – yikes. Had butter smeared on my hand,oh,35 years ago by one well meaning great aunt (of teacher) while other great aunt (RN) screamed at her about what she was doing….while they did that I started running the icy cold well-water from their tap to stop the burn and get the butter off(second degree and fiber related). I was about 11. We can forgive said butter remedy aunt since she was a most awesome weaver and me staring in fascination at what she was up to is what caused me to lean on a red hot stove pipe palm up. This tale in honor of great aunt Nell, who passed on last month at the ripe old age of 100. (p.s…do the butter remedy people also still believe poison ivy is contagious?)

I read through each of the comments, and I’m surprised that no one mentioned mustard. Good ole Heinz yellow mustard. I worked in a kitchen through college, and when I burned myself on the oven door (kept on working with an ice bag taped to my arm) the first thing all the seasoned cooks said was, “Did you put mustard on it?” (This, of course, after keeping in in cool water. That was always the first thing you need to do.)
I’ve burned myself a couple of times since then, and it does help take the burning sensation away, along with helping the swelling diminish.

WTF!?!?! Oh god that looks painful. I hope she recovers quickly. Poor Meg!
Do restaurants not cover WHIMIS with their employees??? I’m not commenting on Meg, but I am referring to the restaurant itself. Yikes!
I really hope she’s feeling better soon.
p.s. That photo freaked the hell out of me because it looks like Meg’s hand swelled two sizes!)

I can’t say strongly enough how ridiculous the idea that cooling a wound can “drive the heat in further” is. Heat doesn’t work like that. You cannot possibly, possibly, under any circumstances, push the burn further in by cooling the outside of a wound. You could damage a wound in a variety of ways with cold stuff, and it’s certainly a common warning that you shouldn’t ice a burn, but that’s not the reason it’s a bad idea. Heat and cold aren’t substances that displace each other like hot air and cold air.

We have a dish at our house called “Burn Your Hand Chicken.” It’s a breaded chicken recipe that you cook in a skillet on the stove top for 15 minutes and then in the same skillet, bake in the oven for 45 minutes. I took it out of the oven and placed in on the stove top announced “don’t touch this” and then my husband tried to move the handle out of the way— second degree burns to his palm and fingers. BUT, the next time I made it, I MOVED the handle out of the way and burned my hand. It shall forever be named “Burn Your Hand Chicken,” at least in our house. No one said we were rocket scientists.

Wow! What a girl you have! I wish her speedy healing, and thanks for sharing her experience. Her poor hand brings memories of this time last year – my 12 year old was cooking doughnuts in a (thankfully) small saucepan, and when he was through, wasn’t sure what to do with the oil. He thought of pouring it down the sink, then decided it would be better to add cold water to it instead. The resulting “explosion” spattered and burned both of his hands and one arm up to his elbow. Luckily, both of my sons were trained in first aid and knew what to do; after soaking in cool water, we wrapped him in gauze to keep it clean. He still has some scarring, which may or may not fade, but it could have been so much worse. My heart almost broke when he asked if I was mad at him; I told him no, but said that I was sorry that he had learned a very painful lesson, and that nothing I could possibly say afterwards would have made the same impact. He recently used his experience in a family safety workshop – if you can’t be a good example, at least be a horrible warning! 🙂

My husband tells me that his father thought you should *burn* *it* *again* to make it stop hurting. Yeah, I guess it would stop hurting if you burned off all your nerve endings. I don’t know if he had a crazy theory about the healing process, I was afraid to ask.

Well, Meg’s made her $2.2K at least. Here’s hoping she makes the full 6. I know well the pain of which she has – when I took a sabbatical from technoworld for two years, I went to chef school and worked in kitches (mostly just to see if I could). I loved it but it is hard, physical work and more dangerous than anyone not in back of house wants to know about. So here’s to good healing – mind your doctors well. Keep the bandages on, don’t mess with the scars. I’m not sure the pain goes away quickly, but you get used to it….and it would seem that Meg has a VERY high tolerance for pain 🙂 I mean, how many photos of the never-growing blanket has she done?
So Ms. Harlot – keep up the fine work of knitting and proselytizing the world of wool. Oh, and of raising fine children that you can be most proud of.

Oh honey, they are cuter than bug’s ears, the both of them! (I teach high school–there is nothing cuter than good kids dressed up to have a nice time. They totally nailed it!)
I’m stupid-crazy-proud to know them–and I usually put green-goop on my burns–aloe/lidocaine conconction, that dries so I can put antibiotics on it and dress it… I’ll check the link though to see if that’s bad!

Poor Meg!!!
My daughter Emma took a First Aid Class when she was 13. In fact, it is now compulsory in France to take those classes in order to be allowed to take your exams. She decided to take it again this year: she thought she might have forgotten a lot of things in two years time. In France we have either “Protection Civile” or the Red Cross who teach those classes. In our family, my daughter, my husband and I have the diploma and are aware of what to do in such situations.
I wish everyone could take such classes…

It’s so unfortunate that this accident is the prompt for a first aid class. The CPR class I once took was fantastic. While you wouldn’t want little me to be the one doing compressions, I felt a lot safer afterwards and ready for an emergency.
My worst burn was a minor one from a cookie sheet that left a line across the inside of my wrist. I was getting questions for months about it — the position made the scar look self-inflicted — and I was sure glad to not have to talk about it again once it healed!

My questions are:
Did Meg’s employers rethink their decision to switch cookware?(a safety issue I would reconsider if I were them);
Why didn’t her employers make sure she got immediate and appropriate emergency care?
I wish Meg a speedy recovery!

Ouch!!! I too was a faithful restaurant employee when I was younger. We used to have what we jokingly called asbestos hands. (This was before asbestos was known to be so bad for your health.) We handles so many hot plates, pans, and food that a dish that would bother other people would barely register as hot to us. I always thought I was pretty tough until one day when someone spilled Italian dressing on the kitchen floor and didn’t tell me. I was walking by the area, slipped in the dressing and stuck my hand out to save myself from falling, only to have my hand slip into the deep fryer. Fortunately for me the deep fryer had been shut off for 15 to 20 minutes, and I immediately was able to pull my hand out so it only caused 1st and 2nd degree burns, but man did that hurt because it covered my whole hand to the wrist!!!! Meg has my sympathy in regards to the butter because cleaning off all that oil really sucked and was definitely not an enjoyable procedure! Fortunately my hand healed fine, no contractures, (which is when scar tissue develops and pulls on the tissue and nearby joints thereby restricting movement) and the redness that remained slowly faded over time so that now you can’t even tell I was burned except when my hands get really hot or cold. I’m really glad that she’s ok and has wise parents. I think everyone should take First aid classes and know CPR. I had my Red Cross certificate in my teens and early 20’s and it’s been immensely helpful at times, plus it saved me from the “trying to be helpful but giving bad advice” of others. It’s always good to know what to do in an emergency both for yourself and someone you love. The thing is you never know who you might be able to help or save. I hope Meg heals as quickly and painlessly as possible.

I’m a dispatcher for 911, and I can definitely tell you two things about burns: 1) unless a weird chemical is the cause, cool under cold water a lot longer than you need. A LOT. Like, minutes. 2) The longer the burn goes without said cooling, the deeper the burn! Cool and flush, people!
And when in doubt about it, you can always call us and we’ll let you know how to deal with it!
I’m glad the burn wasn’t more serious and she’s okay!

So glad Meg’s going to be OK! Burns are so painful!
It’s all too easy to make such mistakes in a kitchen! Like extinguishing a gas stove’s pilot light with a pot of water that has boiled over, using a pot holder to remove the burner in order to relight the stove, and then forgetting in the intervening few minutes that you just needed a pot holder to remove the burner, and instead using your bare hand to put it back on the stove! The burns weren’t as bad as Meg’s, but I did sleep with my hand in a bucket of ice water that night!
When I was 10 or 11, I was over at a neighborhood friend’s house, and her mother decided to allow my friend to make Jello. Friend boiled up the water, and then proceeded to pour the boiling water into a measuring cup – one that she was holding with her other hand. Not being allowed to make Jello on my own, I wasn’t familiar with the procedure, and therefore didn’t know enough to tell her not to do what she was doing.
Needless to say, she got the boiling water all over her hand. Her screaming brought her mother – mother didn’t use butter on the burn, but she did pour FLOUR all over my friend’s hand. (She then yelled at me and kicked my out of the house, making me feel it was all my fault! I wasn’t too insulted, as I wasn’t that crazy about my friend’s mother…)
Eventually my friend was taking to the ER, but I don’t really remember what happened after that, except to know she recovered just fine.

Aw that is rough. I work with burn patients at an inpatient trauma hospital as an OT. 2nd degree (or partial thickness) burns are pretty much the most painful burn you can have, because with deeper burns the nerves are gone. I feel for her!

I was really lucky. When I was 3, I accidentally kicked a camp stove and overturned the stove, a kettle and boiling water all over my legs. My friend’s mother was a nurse and she just scooped me up and held me in her arms under a cold shower. I had second degree burns down the backs of my knees and over my thighs (and until I was about 19, that area never tanned), but she saved me from permanent scars, serious infection and possible skin surgeries. So thank you so much for that public service announcement.

I am so delighted to hear that Meg is ok! Burns can be nasty things.
An ambulance course can be just the thing. I teach Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics here in the states, and have many students who take the class just to know what to do.
Carolyn

As a former ambulance driver whose worst nightmare was burns, THANK YOU.
And know that if you do what you are supposed to do it works. My son had a boiling kettle spill down his leg, and we got him in the shower clothes still on and ran cold water for 15 full min. before taking him to emerg. They said it saved his leg muscle. If we had taken him straight there (a 5 min. drive) it would have been too late.
Once more you Rock Stepanie!

I hope they had a GREAT time at the prom!
No, you don’t want contractures. In Canada, I don’t suppose you have to read ‘The Red Badge of Courage’ in school.
I suppose what this all means is that everyone should take a REAL first aid course sometime before they finish high school, and maybe that you have to make sure your co-workers do too. One would think that restaurants would address burns and cuts at a minimum.
Out of curiosity, I did Google “butter on a burn” – holy cow! There’s a lot of manure out there! Including one page connected to a site from someone who was promoting her own services for “Custumized Technology Training”. Danger, danger Will Robinson! Everything from butter to vinegar, egg whites, potatoes, toothpaste, alcohol and breast milk. Run, do not walk, to the exits.
It’s been interesting to read the comments ahead of mine. I’m especially amused (or aghast, actually) at the notion that you can ‘drive the heat in deeper’ by cooling the burn with cold water. While direct, long icing may cause other issues, any notion that you can ‘drive the heat in deeper’ violates the laws of thermodynamics. Lukewarm water may be easier to tolerate on the surrounding tissue, but you want to cool the damaged tissue as rapidly as possible, short of frostbite. I don’t care if a doctor or a nurse voiced those opinions – my sister-in-law is a nurse and has some rather peculiar notions.
I had a freak kitchen accident. I was preparing hard-boiled eggs for a large function, and when I poured the water out of the (large) pot, it splashed into the sink and then some of it splashed back onto my jeans. I didn’t realize at first what had happened, but when I peeled the pants down found that I had a half-dollar-sized bright, bright red spot. I grabbed an ice cube, wrapped it in paper towel, and tucked it into my pants – I still had more work to do! I replaced the ice as it melted. No sign of the burn remains, nor did it hurt to any real extent.

I’m so glad her hand is going to be alright.
And how beautiful is she? What a lovely dress! Some of the pretty young things at our local prom managed to wear dresses (and makeup) meant for aging cocktail waitresses – glad to see she avoided that trap!

Poor kiddo (and my boys are 18 and 22 but I still call them boys, probably will until I die). I suffered a very nasty steam burn down my right forearm, palm and fingers so I definitely feel her pain. Thankfully I got good advice from a friend who’d recently badly burned her leg so had very recent legit medical knowledge of the subject. Meggie is probably the only person happy with this cool rainy weather and having suffered my own burn in June as well, I’ll be a heretic and hope it stays cool for a bit longer for her sake. Kudos to them both for the ride, I Hope all three get fancy schmancy jerseys!

Thanks for the first-aid reminder. It’s amazing how much we don’t know, how much second hand advice we take. We just posted a reminder on what to do if your child is poisoned (hint: don’t rush out and buy syrup of ipecac).
Glad to see she’s on the mend – and best wishes for a fantastic bike ride!

oh, no! i’m so sorry for your daughter… i couldn’t cook well if my life depended on it, and i’m not much younger than your daughter is. *blush* anyone who has that much talent shouldn’t have to suffer… tell her that i hope she recovers quickly.
she appears to be relatively cheerful looking in the picture, which is a good thing. also, from what i’ve picked up on, your daughter doesn’t knit… if she did, she’d probably be going through 20 times more torture, because who could knit with a bandaged up hand? i managed to knit with a cast on once, but then i didn’t have anything making my fingers more bulky… :\

Ooooh, I’ve done that before. Twice actually, I’m a very accident prone girl (I blame my mother, who is the same way). Once with an iron skillet that got taken out of the oven and set on top of the stove, and once with an iron. Having your right hand out of commission is not fun at all!.
Best of luck with the AIDS Ride, I always sponsor a friend in the AIDS Network’s ACT ride here in Madison, WI, she always has a great time and has made some wonderful friends.

I worked in medical research in a hospital for years, so trust me when I tell you we all knew how to handle all kinds of incidents. One day, I accidentally (or is it stupidly) reached across a boiling steam bath, very bad move, and gave myself first degree burns on one hand. I plunged my hand into a beaker of ice, and toddled off to the ER. As I was waiting for attention, I realized a man across from me was studying me closely. Finally, he said “Excuse me, can I ask you a question?” “Sure.” “Is your hand stuck in that jar?” If I wasn’t in so much pain I would have been hysterical!

Oh my! I hope she’s doing better now, at least she’s smiling a bit!
Yeah, “don’t put butter on a burn” is pretty much Lesson Number One at first aid classes. I took those classes every couple of years during my Girl Guide volunteer days. It’s hard to believe that this is still circulating as proper wisdom! Thanks for the PSA.

I badly burned both of my hands several years ago. The doctors thought they were going to have to remove my right index finger it was burned so very badly. The great news is that they didn’t have to, and after several very uncomfortable weeks, my hands fully recovered. My doctors had me use silverdene ointment. Great stuff! Apparently silver has great antibacterial properties. It still amazes me that my hands aren’t scarred. Slight color difference in the skin, but most people don’t notice, even after they are told. Good luck to Meg. I hope she feels better soon.

Beautiful Meg, so sorry about the mishap. I am impressed with how you handled the situation in spite of bad advice. Sometimes ‘things’ happen so others can learn. (thanks, momma Steph)
Gorgeous Meg, what a wonderful photo of you and Pato. Your giggly smiles travel through the camera lens right out into the world! Ya’ll made my day – thank you.

Oh poor Meggie! I burned myself once trying to stop an overflowing coffeemaker and never felt such pain as that (I put my hand under cold water first, then iced it). Many good wishes that it heals well.

Butter. I can’t believe it. I’m glad it didn’t make things crazy worse for her, though sorry it made it more painful.
Ah, prom. I have the easy way out for three out of four kids: Send girlfriend (or future girlfriends) with sons to pick out tux. Rent tux. Return tux.
The daughter may be a bit more tricky. She doesn’t like dresses!
Anyway, best of riding to Meg, Pato and Ken!

Cringes at the butter & toothpaste recs. Perhaps a little campaign to teach kids in jr high/intermediate or high school some first aid? Mine did but I went to a private one.
Glad she didn’t have it worse. Cute prom pics. Looks like she’s not so mad at him for being late (per your Twitter).

nasty burns:( My 17 year old worked in a kitchen last summer and got burns and cuts. This year he is getting burns cooking at McD. We are really lucky that my #2 son is a paramedic and we always get our first aid advice from him. He was a saint john ambulance volunteer before that and they are great.
Two of my other kids each had to take a first aid in order to work at summer camps with kids. There are no courses provided here either for free through the school system.

Ye-OW!
When i was 2 years old, i was burned severely (2nd and 3rd degree burns) on my forearm and elbow. I do have scarring, had to have skin grafts at the time, but fortunately have full movement and flexibility of my arm–docs did a good job of preventing contractures with me.
When it happened, i was also fortunate in that my grandmother (who was supposed to be watching me at the time, but had stepped out of the room for a few minutes) knew that butter + burns = bad idea; i don’t remember much of anything about the incident, but was told later that she did hold my arm under (if i recall correctly) running warm water to help soothe the damaged skin while calling the ambulance.
I hope meg has a speedy recovery; however i know from experience from other (milder) burns in myself and other food-workers, that she’s likely to develop some increased heat-sensitivity in the areas that were burned on her hand. Something to keep in mind when she’s working; she’ll need to protect that skin more from heat that normally she’d be able to tolerate.

I had the same problem with burn advice a few years ago – so I called my Dr. office, they had me come in and I spent a small fortune on a special salve (no scar, so I guess it was worth it!). Thanks for passing along the good info and please be sure your family & friends understand that we’re perfectly willing to be “bored” with stories about the never ending, garter stitch, blanket. LOL

Great prom pictures!
I’m sorry about the burn. My brother has worked in a restaurant for years and has had his share of work-related injuries. None of them have been too serious, thankfully, and I’m glad Meg’s going to be okay. Thanks for the burn info.
That said, I haven’t read all the comments, but am I the only one who finds the perspective of Meg with her bandages odd? It looks like she has a *HUGE* hand. I’m sorry to admit it made me giggle a little. But only because she looks so happy about it. 🙂
To make amends for giggling, I’m going to go sponsor Meg on her big ride.

Meg’s a smart girl–like her mom. You need to learn to take care of yourself in an emergency–and others. Basic care and CPR are so important as you get older, move out of the house and start a family. (and she looks beautiful dressed for Prom).

There is a ointment I have been using for three years now that has never failed me…I know, I know don’t use ointments… but I swear those who have used it can’t believe how well it works. Three years ago my son received a very bad coleman fluid burn on a lot of his leg. He did go to the hospital and a few day later at home a lady swore by this (he was in a lot of pain) so he tried it. It is The Great wall Brand from an Asian store it cost about $2 for a small tube. The name is Ging Wan Hung It says ” an instantaneous cure for: light and serious scalds or burns caused by boiling water, strong fire, boiling oil, steam, molten steel and chemical substance reacting on the human body” My Son couldn’t believe how fast it worked. Today it’s hard to tell he had a burn on his leg. I always have this in my home and have been greatful for it many times.

Oh how awful, I am sorry! And I thank you for the links … I was relieved to see I *do* know what to do for a minor burn, and the info on serious burns was very enlightening. They should include basic first aid in antenatal classes! (Perhaps they do there but they don’t where I had my babies)

youch! A far over-heated hot water bottle once broke while under me. All’s well now, but can confirm the phrase “fire up your bum” is an apt way to describe motivation…in that case to jump away from the water!

Ouch! Poor Meg. I’m glad she did get good care for that hand, and I’d kind of like to slap the butter recommenders.
For the record, I was in one of the first studies that proved sugar doesn’t make kids hyperactive. It was at Children’s Hospital in DC. I was 8. I’m 35 now and people are still fighting the science.

I am a trained first-aider, and stupid people with bad advice always make me sad. Apparently (I haven’t tried it, because I don’t burn myself badly, but this comes from a reliable source), Dreft laundry soap mixed up in water and soaking the burn in it works wonders.

I’m so glad Meg will be okay – and ouch! I know that hurts.
I usually use very cold water and aloe. I have a grandmother aloe plant I’ve had for almost 25 years … she’s huge. And she’s the best medicine in the house!
(((Hugs)))

My sympathies to Meg, that doesn’t look like a lot of fun! I’m a glass artist, so have had my fair share of burns while working at my torch. Here’s a tip for not getting burnt by hot tools:
Try to get in the habit of, before you pick up a tool/pan, to tap the handle with a finger. That way, even if the pan is hot, you end up with a small burn on one finger, and not over your whole hand. Eventually, this becomes second nature–I do it both at my studio and in my kitchen without thinking about it, and it’s definitely helped save me from some hot pans and hot glass.
Good luck on the bike ride!

Wow, I’m stunned that there are people out there who still believe that butter crap! I’m also surprised that there wasn’t a first aid kit with a reference book in it, in the kitchen! My Meg also burned her hands last year, the same day she knocked out her front tooth, so I understand the pain!! Does she have those funny handlebars so she could just lean on them with her forearms? Hope she does well!

Condolences. I burned my thumb directly on a beekeepers smoker (they are made from tin and can burn hot!). It was horrible. I immediately put my finger in a small glass of cool water with dried comfrey. Amazing. I was stunned that the pain entirely went away. If I removed my thumb it would come right back. I held my thumb in the cool liquid for a while, walking around tending to children, for about an hour. Eventually it stopped hurting all together. A couple of days later, my thumb peeled in that spot! So I’m pretty sure it was second degree burn. Plenty of bad burns, but this one healed like magic. I’ve had ointments with comfrey work well, but never as well as just comfrey. Btw, if I had given this advice 200 years ago, I might have been burned at the stake!

Hope that Meg’s hand heals quickly…it could have been much worse tho. I am a 911 Police Dispatcher and my hubby is a Firefighter also trained as EMS. Trust me, putting butter on a burn is not the worst advise out there.
There are creams and lotions that you can rub into the burn area “After its healed” that will help the skin stay supple. Like a frostbitten area, it will be tender for a long while.
Going to donate to the cause now, thanks
Val

Ouch!!!!! Can’t believe people think you should put butter on a burn. Ugh. I hope the doctor gave her some silvadene cream or something like it. Hope that feels better soon. Maybe the restaurant should warn people about that stuff, too! Yikes.
Even little burns hurt a lot. I can’t imagine a 2nd degree burn on my palm. Bumping the side of the iron, with my arm and just getting a slit of a burn hurts enough to remember to be more careful next time.

I got that same burn when I was 15. I remember my whole dominant hand looked like Freddie Krueger for a good time, but even though it hurt a lot I didn’t consider the idea of going to the hospital. I vetoed all the kitchen stuff with metal handles from then on, even with lots of “But it’s prettier!” from roommates/relatives.

I feel for your daughter. I’ve done this too, with coffee grounds and I had huge blisters up and down my arm. After it healed I had white and ultra white skin for a year. No scaring now but I’ll never use a plunge coffee maker again (and I warn people about them too)!
I hope it heals up really quickly so she can do the bike ride.

Having had 3rd degree burns on two different occasions (no I didn’t learn the first time) I know how painful Meg’s hand much be! Sending good healing thoughts her way. She and Pato are the cutest couple!

Ow. Sigh. Yeah, there’s a lot of really bad advice still out there about first aid. My oldest son burned his back while making himself a snack of mac ‘n’ cheese (long story), but he’s also a fire spinner and knew what to do – got under a cool shower immediately – burn wasn’t too bad considering he’d managed to set his shirt on fire. (He’s fine, no scars even, the shirt’s history).
If you think the advice about burns is bad, you should see the advice about birth control!

GAH. Butter on a burn. GAH. I’m so sorry Meg fell for that one. While WE oldst-, ahem, I mean, MORE EXPERIENCED burn-getters say, “Oh for heaven’s sake, THAT old fairy tale?!”, I know it sounds perfectly reasonable the first time or two you hear it. Butter soothes, right…? 🙁

My goodness,I am a grandmother now, and butter on a burn was the treatment of choice when I burned myself with a flat iron at the age of 4 – and that was the first aid given by a young doctor!
I’m glad things have moved along since then.
What a stoic mother you are, to face so calmly the thought of your daughter doing this ride with a burned hand!

megan and friend, you look awsome. Megan, I do advise the stationary bike too, you even can bandäge” the part your hurt hand would hold very thickly on the bike and rest yur wrist on it for good posure. For all of you, in the Netherlands the advise is really lukewarm waterrinsing for at least ten minutes, the thing being you never ever seal in a burn. Remember goosebumps in wintertime? That is what your burned skin does if you use too cold water to cool the burn. Your bloodvessels contract to be thinner to loose less warmth and so you are sealing in the burn, lookwarm water keeps the bloodvessels open alowing more heat to escape from the burn through your skin. I would advise not putting anything on the burn before checking with your doctor or hospital and yes, Megan, please wear a trainingsmitten on your hand during your ride, or your skin will be burned again within at least half an hour, better carefull than stupid. Protect your healed skin against scratches as good as you can, it is very vulnerable to all kinds of infections. And Kathy at 1.55?, tell your eleven year old there are wooly pigs in Germany, check Google. They have hairs at least 8 cm.long. Stephanie, you good do one antire block or your blanket in purl stitch every needle, same effect, just be sure to check gauge first, might need a different needlesize, sure breaking boredom for a while ;-).

There must have been all sorts of comments with advice about preventing scarring, but I’ll add my twopenn’orth anyway. I used to be a chef and regularly got oven burns up my arms. The best thing (after they’d scabbed over) was Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour ointment. It works really well on sunburn too.

i just did the SAME THING last month! burned like the dickins! because she works in a kitchen, it’d probably be a good idea to have a first aid kit there. most kitchens have them. and they have stuff like burn salves that stop the cooking process and have simple instructions on how to use it.
might be something worth suggesting the owner purchase, or, gift a good first aid kit to them. if they just replaces the pans, this won’t be the last burn. it’s hard to retrain muscle memory, and all of that movement in a kitchen is definitely routine!

Wunderkind that she is, and beautiful too on prom night, I’m not surprised that you’re proud of her. When my DD burned the backs of her fingers in the French fry oil at work, she was grey-faced and shaking in the ER. The nurse had given her ice water to put her hand in, and it wasn’t helping a whole lot. The nurse then came back with a wee basin of 1N saline solution (salty water, to you and me) at room temp., and Mim said the pain was gone instantly. Go figure.

Remember that you put butter in a pan when you want to COOK meats. That’s what butter or oils do when you have a burn injury – they help to ‘cook’ your skin even after the burning agent (the pan, in this case) is gone. I’m glad she wasn’t hurt more than she was!

I wanted to write you earlier. Oddly enough, I had a hand burn two weekends ago, grabbing a grate over the stove, after I had just boiled water…. late at night, tired, not thinking, etc.
The Kaiser Permanente nurse (in N.California) said to submerse the hand in water. I did this, with much success (relief), then got driven to ER.
Definitely the thing to do. Sorry for your daughter’s hand. 🙁 Hope it heals fast. (My blisters are just about gone…)
Take care

Great PSA. I work in the ER and am always amazed by the old-fashioned remedies that still drift around.
Hope Meg’s hand heals up quickly and the pain isn’t too bad. Burns suck.
Best of luck to all 3 of them in the big ride!

Ouch! Poor Meg, looks like she’s got a good attitude about it though (for the moment anyway) tell her to keep positive, it helps. I can’t believe someone told her to put butter on it!
Thinking healing thoughts…

Poor Meg! Hopefully her hand is healing nicely.
I’m getting a chuckle from her bf name…Pato?
Is that short for Patricio?
Translated in spanish his name is Duck…I’m sure you already knew it. Lol.
He looks nothing like a duck. Quack!

Ouch, hope the hand heals quickly. I have worked in diners for many years and a cook once told me to put egg white on a burn after cooling it down. Well it works!! Everyone I tell it to is amazed at how well it works. A friend had a firework blow up in her hand and after “washing” it and putting eggwhite and letting it dry on there, not even a blister. Don’t know why it works but it does.

I’m speaking only from 30+ years of personal experience and not from what I’ve read. Vitamin E oil from a fresh gel capsule applied ASAP to an ordinary household burn can help prevent blisters. It kills pain and you heal without a scar.
Keep a bottle of regular Vit E (400 IU) in the fridge (i.e. in the kitchen). When you think or know you have burned yourself (if it’s severe, you don’t feel the pain right away) bite the end off of a capsule and apply the oil to the burn area.
Forty or so years ago I suffered a nasty steam burn from cooking and didn’t know what to do except to run cold water over it and “apply butter.” Later that night I ended up in the emergency room because of the pain of a single massive blister that covered half of my hand. I needed drugs for the pain and it took a long time to heal.
My main heat source for the past 30 years has been cast-iron wood stoves and I cook a lot. Various arm and hand parts touch hot metal even when you’re careful, hence, I’ve had a lot of skin burns. For me, no pain pills, no scars in 30+ years of playing with fire because of Vitamin E. My 91-year-old ex- (but still beloved) mother-in-law swears by it too.

I put my hand on a metal hot plate at OCAD in the printmaking department and it was turned on to 400 fahrenheit. My whole palm was on fire and no matter how long I held it under cold water it didn’t cool down. A polish student told me to put egg white on it, which I did and after about 1 minute I was fine. Now the burn was not severe enough to cause blisters, but it was horrible enough that most of my fingerprints had melted off. I never did need a doctor, and after a couple of days I was fine. So some of those home remedies do work but within the limits of the actual injury and assessing the acuteness is what can make their use dangerous.
On the bike ride.. I don’t know if you remember Richard mentioning that he rode from Montreal to Toronto in two days when he was 18!.. I don’t recommend that, and I think your two little’nes will have a blast! (and good thighs to show for later)…

Longtime reader, first time commenter.
My sister suffered serious 2nd degree burns to her arm (almost 3rd degree, but not quite) when she was younger, and as part of the healing process, the doctor recommended liberal application of Vitamin E oil. She spent 2 years breaking open those little tablets, and now, 12 years later, you barely even notice the scar, and this was a pretty severe burn we’re talking about here. While you may not have to do it for years, it’s worth a shot. Good luck to Meg in her recover?

I did a similar thing once with a cast iron skillet.Took it out of the oven and then grabbed the hot handle. At the time I had a baby in diapers. I managed to do the changing part but my husband had to attach the safety pin for me. In those days men didn’t do diaper changes.

I did a similar thing once with a cast iron skillet.Took it out of the oven and then grabbed the hot handle. At the time I had a baby in diapers. I managed to do the changing part but my husband had to attach the safety pin for me. In those days men didn’t do diaper changes.

Stef,
Sorry about Meg’s hand…I learned the same lesson the same way..so I empathize. Ouch.
Didn’t get back to the web before today, so didn’t yet sponsor your swwet baby and her friend, but I did already send our Ken some more $$$. Will click and donate immediately!
When do YOU plan on attempting this ride??

Read the burn info. Thankfully, what I remembered learning at Girls’ Camp is what was written there. Phew. :o)
And as for the sugar thing? We’ve been part of a double-blind study, when our childrens’ Sunday School teachers were handing out candy in class without us knowing. Finally we realized that there must be a reason that Sunday afternoons were, hands down, the worst day of the week. When we asked, and the candy stopped, so did the wild and crazy behavior. (So, maybe the study you cited was done on children who have various sugars as regular parts of their diet. We don’t include it, ever, and so when it suddenly appears, it’s really apparent, even if it was slipped to our child without us knowing.)
Hope Meg feels better soon, and best of luck on the blanket! If I was anywhere close, I’d offer to knit on it for you. I could use some mindless, meditative knitting right now . . .

THANK YOU for the PSA & link to the burn treatment info. I referred to it Saturday night after burning both hands using a hot melt glue gun. Turns out, the combo of exhaustion & glue guns is akin to knitting & alcohol. It would have made a great Funniest Home Video clip though!
To show my appreciation, I will make a donation to Megan’s fundraiser. Thanks again!

OUCH! Hope her hand heals quickly. I was dyeing wool on a gas stove. Once finished, I turned the burner off and right away started cleaning the stovetop. I stupidly picked up the metal burner! YOOOOWW! I ran cold water over my hand first. Then, I have a huge aloe plant and have always heard about applying aloe to burns but had never had to use it. I cut a couple of “leaves” off, slit them open, and taped them to my hand over the burned area. Within minutes the pain went away and the area never blistered. The next day, the redness was gone, too. So, an aloe plant is a great thing to have on hand.